Albany police chief nominee, Brendan Cox, advances

Final vote on police chief nominee to come July 20

Updated 10:48 pm, Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Members of Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration attended Deputy Police Chief Brendan Cox's confirmation hearing on July 7, 2015 to press for answers about the death of Donald Ivy in police custody. Mayor Kathy Sheehan has nominated Cox to be Albany's next police chief. (Jordan Carleo-Evangelist/Times Union) less

Members of Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration attended Deputy Police Chief Brendan Cox's confirmation hearing on July 7, 2015 to press for answers about the death of Donald Ivy in police custody. Mayor ... more

Deputy Police Chief Brendan Cox outlines his vision for the future of the Albany Police Department during the confirmation hearing July 7, 2015 on his nomination as police chief. (Jordan Carleo-Evangelist/Times Union) less

Deputy Police Chief Brendan Cox outlines his vision for the future of the Albany Police Department during the confirmation hearing July 7, 2015 on his nomination as police chief. (Jordan Carleo-Evangelist/Times ... more

Deputy Police Chief Brendan Cox's nomination as chief sailed past its first hurdle Tuesday when city lawmakers preliminarily advanced his appointment following a two-and-a-half-hour discussion about the future of the department.

Under questioning by members of the Common Council's Public Safety Committee, Cox, 44, outlined a short-term vision centered in part on greater youth outreach, including a youth advisory committee and youth court program.

He also endorsed the statewide push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 — where it is in all but New York and North Carolina.

"How can we say that 48 other states are wrong," Cox said afterward, embracing a reform position — that teenagers ought not be automatically treated by adults in the justice system — that has been controversial in some law enforcement circles.

The 21-year veteran of the department, however, resisted the suggestion by West Hill Councilman Mark Robinson that the city consider a youth curfew during the summer months, saying that would only put his officers into conflict with teens with whom they are trying to build bridges.

"If we're asking police to act as parents, I think we're asking for trouble," said Cox, who has two teenaged sons.

Cox also urged patience amid calls by activists to grant independent investigatory power to the Citizens'Police Review Board, saying that he believes a long-awaited mediation program will radically change the way the panel operates.

Cox also highlighted training plans to better equip officers to deal with people in mental health crisis — a sensitive topic since the April 2 death of a mentally ill man, Donald Ivy, in police custody — and efforts to combat cynicism that he said inevitably infects officers after years of dealing with people at their worst moments.

Cox suggested that cynicism, and the stress of bouncing from one emergency to the next, may be partially to blame for why some residents say the community policing philosophy nurtured by Cox and his predecessor, Steven Krokoff, has not always translated to interactions on the street.

Longtime Arbor Hill activist Beverly Padgett told lawmakers she has full confidence in Cox but virtually none in the officers that patrol her neighborhood in cars.

Unlike beat officers who residents know, Padgett said, the officers in cars are more aggressive and have "fierce attitudes."

"I have got faith in the chief; he's been there morning, noon an night," said Padgett, who recently stepped down as chair of the city's community policing advisory panel. "I just do not trust the people in the cars."

Cox described discretion — and the training to use it fairly — as a fundamental component of effective community policing.

"If all you do is mandate an arrest or mandate a certain way of doing things, you're basically giving them a zero-tolerance policy," he said.

The committee's unanimous support came with a blessing of Cox's request for a temporary waiver from the city's residency requirement until his eldest son earns his Regents diploma. Cox grew up in Albany but now lives in Loudonville.

His nomination will now go to the full council on July 20.

Asked by Councilwoman Dorcey Applyrs why he wants the job, Cox acknowledged that at times he doubted he would make it to his 20-year retirement, but said the previous five years under Krokoff changed his view of the department.

"I feel like we're finally in a place that we're doing things for the right reasons," he said, "and we've stopped allowing politics to play such a role in something that is way too important."